This is the story of my life, and it is filled with mad, wonderful people, and the love, laughter, and occasional frustration that they bring me.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Catching Up, Continued...

Before I can really start blogging about the things that are happening now, there's a good bit more information about the last (checks blog archives, feels faint) year or so that will help give some context and be generally useful. Otherwise, I imagine reading any current entries would be like missing a book out of a series; you have a general idea what's going on, but you stop and think, "wait, what???" every so often. So in no particular order, here are some things that have happened since my blog hiatus:

I grew to love bullet points. They make things ever so much easier and are nicer to read than huge, long, bulky paragraphs

As you'll remember, I was fired from the really great job that I loved (but had stopped loving for a lot of reasons) and sent back to the customer service department this past December

I languished until July, when I applied for a job and was offered a different, better, brand-new job. I developed a two-week training program and am in charge of training our customer service new hires. As Dadums is fond of pointing out, I'm their first consistent point of contact with the company, and it's nice to be trusted with that.

I celebrated the two year anniversary of the alien spine baby removal surgery. Mostly, I just breathed deeply and spent a lot of time being quietly thankful

One of my Jersey Girls agreed to marry the excellent young man who was smart enough to recognize her awesomeness and awesome enough that she said yes quite happily to his proposal

Aforementioned Jersey Girl has requested that I be a bridesmaid in her wedding. This is the first time I'll get to be a bridesmaid, and I'm incredibly honored that she asked me to be part of such an important day

While we're on the topic of engagements, it's only fair to mention that Jim and I aren't engaged. There's a fair chance that we may never be, but we're taking things slowly and figuring out what we each want

Speaking of Jim, he's doing pretty well himself. He joined a deck hockey league, is kicking butt on his fantasy football team, and has some good ideas about what he wants to pursue for a career

I was recently diagnosed with hypothyroidism (genetics, man. go figure!) and started a synthetic thyroid hormone regimen a couple of weeks ago. I'm shedding heavily (a side effect that usually stops within the first three to four months) and dealing with wild mood swings and unexpected hunger pangs. But I'm much less inclined to sleep for twelve hours and wake up tired, which is a huge plus (note to self: stop putting off seeing your doctor when something doesn't feel right. filed under: lessons i should've learned ages ago but which never seem to stick). I've also found some motivation to do things like knit and spin and clean my house (but not too much)

Speaking of the house, Jim and I are going to sign a one-year extension on our lease this week. We'll be living here minus the housemates. I can't help but think that things will go more smoothly for us if we're living as a couple without the stress of acting as the grownups/parents/people who make all the decisions to two other adults

Those are all the things I can think of at the moment. I'm sure there are things I'm leaving out or forgetting, but we'll cover them as we go from here. This weekend's weather was the very best of Pennsylvania in the fall--warm but brisk without the sun, bright, mellow, and downright chilly with all the wind. Now that we've had our two days of sunlight, we'll go back to our usual weather pattern--gray, miserable, grudging rain. That should last until December or January, when we'll switch to spiteful, icy sleet with too much snow for sanity to persevere. I hope your weekend was just the right balance of peace and excitement, here's to a new week tomorrow.

22 comments:

Nicole Iannone
said...

It's so nice to see you back here. you've been missed. I've enjoyed reading your blog since the alien spine baby chronicles and I so appreciated the care package from you and Donna Lee this summer. I never realized how far a little love and knowing that someone is sending you positive energy can go.

Oh boy, a wedding! I love all the pagentry and follies of a wedding. Will she put glitter in the invitation? Will she demand that you wear bubblegum pink stapless gowns with inappropriately placed huge bows? WIll we all cry? Will there be chocolate cake? Please share all the news!

Hooray for making the job your own and developing a success! You da bomb, babe!

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About Me

This is the story of me! I'm a young woman living in Pennsylvania and surrounded by wonderful, crazy, odd, colorful people who I love dearly. I love to laugh and to knit and especially to read. Music is my lifeblood, whether I'm listening to it or playing it. I'm a walking anti-stereotype. I'm a smart blonde, a fraternity woman who isn't a promiscuous lush, a young knitter, and a woman who knows more about engines than lots of men. I'm friendly and neurotic and real, stop by and leave me a comment if you have the urge to chat.

The List! 101 Things in 1001 Days

The Schooling:1. Go back to school at least part time in fall of 2009. changed to fall of 2010, due to alien spine baby insanity.2. bring all my student loans current and pay my accounts down as much as possible

The House:3. Clean the library, determining what is trash and what should stay X4. Organize the books in the library so that they are displayed and accessible and so that you can actually sit somewhere in the room to read.5. Paint the library and find a suitable rug and chair/small sofa for the room.6. Paint the living room and front room7. Paint the office8. Determine which plants in the yard should be pulled, pruned, or saved and do so X9. Plant something that flowers and is pretty in the yard X10. Find or buy attractive, comfortable furniture for the yard and the porch X11. Rescue the tree growing next to the house, plant it somewhere safe X12. Clean/organize the basement so that things can be stored and accessed easily.13. Re-finish the kitchen table and chairs gave them to kate instead.14. Re-finish all the woodwork the crazy woman painted white15. Find/buy chairs/sofa/seating for front room16. Create and maintain a fair chore rotation17. Buy new mattress, box spring, and bed frame.

The Me, Practically:18. Create a budget, possibly with Jim's input, to be followed strictly and reviewed and updated every three months19. For six months, cook at least on real, balanced meal per week (24/24) X20. Find a job that is compatible with my goals and skills and has a normal scheduleX21. Write a will22. Designate power of attorney23. Write a living will24. Make peace with myself, my life, my failures, and my successes.25. Have an educated, well-argued opinion on current events/issues26. Find/rent/buy software and improve my Spanish to conversational level27. Find/rent/buy software and learn a little French28. Read the Sunday Inquirer every week for a year (0/52)29. Spend at least half an hour twice a week exercising, doing yoga X30. Research fair trade products and, where possible, gradually switch over31. Purchase more re-usable shopping bags and recycle the plastic ones in the kitchen X32. Buy tires for the Jeep X33. Buy shocks for the Jeep X34. Switch my registration to PA by September 30, 2008 X35. Switch my license to PA by September 30, 2008 X36. Open a savings account as an emergency fund and build it to at least $50037. Celebrate Earth Hour each year38. Blog at least once a week for three months straight (0/12)39. Write one entry in my journal a week for six months straight (0/24)40. Meditate on my beliefs and design a system of worship/praise41. Initiate myself into my faith42. Practice my beliefs actively43. Donate blood

The Me, Whimsically:44. Learn to ride a bike45. Using money I've budgeted, buy myself some great new clothes to wear when I'm not at work46. Play my flute at least once a month for six months (1/6)47. Buy/send myself flowers at least three times (1/3)48. Plan and spend a day at a spa, being pampered49. Read six fiction classics I've never read (o/6)50. Read five non-fiction books (0/5)51. Stock the bar and learn to make fun cocktails with coll52. Spend at least half an hour outside once per week for twelve months (0/48)53. Plan one birthday party for myselfX54. Try a vegetarian diet for a week55. Bake something entirely from scratch X56. Buy at least two cookbooks, one of them to be written by Nigella (0/2)57. Take myself on a date to dinner or a movie, and enjoy the time out alone58. Develop the cameras/film I have sitting around59. Put the pictures in the office into albums60. Share any good pictures with those interested61. Buy an MP3 player X

Friends & Family62. Plan a black-tie themed tea party for my girl friends63. Take Jim to a fancy restaurant to celebrate us X64. Travel to a different country with Jim65. Go to a makeup counter with Coll and get makeovers66. E-mail Ashley at least once per month every month for a year (0/12)67. Call a friend once a week to talk, every week for a year (6/52)68. Give ten gifts just because (2/10)69. Plan one surprise birthday party70. Go camping for a weekend or longer with Jim or other friends71. Do something competitive (pool, mini golf, bowling) with Jim 5 times (0/5)72. Have at least six girl dates/girls' nights with friends from home (3/6)73. Have a sleepover with Amy, Kely, and Melissa74. Have my family (or at least my parents) over for lunch/dinner 10 times (4/10)75. Have Plum family over for dinner76. Plan an awesome week-long vacation for me and Jim77. Watch fireworks with Jim X

Crafty, crafty78. Find or design a pattern for Melissa's wedding shawl X made shawl for Bridget, since wasn't invited to Melissa's wedding.79. Buy yarn, needles, etc. for shawl X80. Knit shawl in a timely manner X81. Buy needles and knit the sweater that's living in the bag on my floor82. Buy fabric and make curtains for the bedroom, front rooms, and library83. Knit a pair of socks in less than a month84. Knit at least six items for the charity/charities of my choice (0/6)85. Buy, trade for or find a spinning wheel X86. Learn to spin X87. Learn about plant dyes and try them on yarn/fleece88. Find a knitting group, join, and attend at least one meeting per month